Well, I'm with Dr. Bill on his first statement, although I would have worded it a bit more delicately, perhaps. Entropy is far to intriguing of a measurement (I always thought of it as more of a process) to get abused so flagrantly here.

'the measure of the degree of disorder in a closed system'...hmmm maybe it does relate to Bush after all....

(oh, I know, I know, you don't all have to pm me and tell me not to go there...)

Hi Magimaria,I tend to side with you on this one. I have been using the notion of entropy (mostly for myself), well outside its thermodynamic application for a long time. One interesting definition of entropy stems from statistical thermodynamics: it is proportional to the (logarithm of the) number of distinguishable states which a system can reach. So if you divide the world just in "good" and "bad", the entropy is very low, compared with the wide variety of attitudes that an open mind can distinguish.

Hurdles are the three foot by two foot blards sheep handles use to force a sheep tochange direction, to make them escaping the sheep dog driving them into enclosure.Navigate is something done with a boat.hurdle n.5ME hirdel < OE hyrdel < Gmc base *hurd3, wickerwork, hurdle, akin to hyrd, door, Frank *hurda, a pen, fold < IE base *kert3, to plait, twist together > L cratis (see CRATE), Gr kyrtos, bird cage6 1 [Chiefly Brit.] a portable frame made of interlaced twigs, etc., used as a temporary fence or enclosure 2 a kind of frame or sled on which prisoners in England were drawn through the streets to execution 3 any of a series of framelike barriers over which horses or runners must leap in a special race (the hurdles) 4 a difficulty to be overcome; obstacle vt.3dled, 3dling 1 to enclose or fence off with hurdles 2 to jump over (a barrier), as in a race 3 to overcome (an obstacle) hur4dler n.

The First law of Thermodynamics.Heat is work and work is heatHeat is work and work is heatVery Good. The Second law of thermodynamics.Heat cannot of itself pass from one body to a hotter bodyHeat cannot of itself pass from one body to a hotter bodyHeat won't pass from a cooler to a hotterHeat won't pass from a cooler to a hotterYou can try it if you like but you'd far better not-aYou can try it if you like but you'd far better not-a'Cos the cold in the cooler will get hotter as a rule-a'Cos the cold in the cooler will get hotter as a rule-a'Cos the hotter body's heat will pass to the cooler'Cos the hotter body's heat will pass to the coolerHeat is work and work is heat and work is heat and heat is workHeat will pass by conduction andHeat will pass by conduction andHeat will pass by convection andHeat will pass by convection andHeat will pass by radiationHeat will pass by radiationAnd that's a physical law

Heat is work and work's a curseAnd all the heat in the universe Is gonna cool down,'Cos it can't increaseThen there'll be no more workAnd there'll be perfect peaceReally?Yeah, that's entropy, Man.And all because of the second law of thermodynamics which lays down:That you can't pass heat from a cooler to a hotterTry it if you like but you'd far better not-a'Cos the cold in the cooler will get hotter as a rule-a'Cos the hotter body's heat will pass to the cooler

Oh, you can't pass heat from a cooler to a hotterTry it if you like but you'll only look a fool-a'Cos the cold in the cooler will get hotter as a rule-aAnd that's a physical lawOh, I'm hotThat's because you've been working!Oh, Beatles, nothing!That's the first and second laws of thermodynamics.

Bush seems blindsided by the entropy of Annan's U.N."What in hell does that mean?

entropy: philosophy The inevitable and steady deterioration of a system or society. (You know like K-mart, or our legal system, or the increasingly inept UN).

Yes I agree Bill, the reporter's poor sentence construction was an obtuse excuse for clever rhetoric, but not because of his use of "entropy". I thought that apt. But President Bush is much too wise and too painfully aware of the entropic qualities of the self-intrest assemblies that make up the United Nations to be blindsided by their lack of prompt and courageous action.A person is "blindsided" by a bus, or a shovel, not by the predictable actions of a namby-pamby UN.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Post Edit: My apologies Bill, I overlooked your post that would have (if I had read it) mollified mine.

I was talking about a lousy mixed metaphor. The President didn't get blindsided byUN membership's disorganization, he was inadequately briefed by his advisors as tohow much UN support he could expect.~ wwh

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